


The Other Half of my Heart

by Gallavich_Obsessed



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Bipolar Ian, Bottom Mickey Milkovich, Childhood Abuse, Denial of Feelings, Depression, Desperation, Drugs, EMT Ian Gallagher, Explicit Language, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, Fate & Destiny, Fluff, Gay, Gay Sex, Internalized Homophobia, Love, M/M, Manic Episode, Mechanic Mickey Milkovich, Mental Health Issues, Protective Mickey Milkovich, Selling Drugs, Slow Burn, Soulmates, Suicide Attempt, Tattoos, Therapy, Top Ian Gallagher, stolen cars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-06 15:41:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13414389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallavich_Obsessed/pseuds/Gallavich_Obsessed
Summary: What if meeting your Soulmate leaves you with a permanent mark? For some people they wait their entire lives for that special mark, but for others they dread the day when they wake up and see that name etched upon their skin. Follow along with the story of two men who want completely different things, but find themselves coming together in Love.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate AUs are some of my favorites so I became inspired to write my own. You can Follow me on Instagram @gallavich_obsessed where I post lots of Gallavich edits, and I want to say A huge Thank You to my counterpart @youlovemeandyouregay on instagram who I wouldn't have been able to write this without. She has kept me motivated through this and helped me with all my editing needs.<3 This is my first Multi-chapter fic so Kudos and Comments are appreciated. Enjoy!

**“Soul Mates I don’t know how you are so familiar to me- or why it feels less like I am getting to know you and more as though I am remembering who you are. How every smile, every whisper brings me closer to the impossible conclusion that I have known you before, I have loved you before- in another time, a different place, some other existence.” ~Lang Leav**

 

             Everyone has a soulmate. That one person who’s soul belongs to yours. But not everyone is lucky enough to get to be with that person. Whether it’s tragedy or just the bad luck of never being in the right place at the right time, some people just aren’t that fortunate. They instead end up with someone who may just never feel 100% right, but they are good enough. For the people who do meet their person however, fate will take matters into its own hands. In the months leading up to meeting that special someone it is known that each person will experience a shift, and their soulmates name will appear like a tattoo somewhere on their body.

             From a young age Ian Gallagher has known that love is the strongest force in the world. He grew up in a home filled with it. Although his parents weren’t always present he did have his brothers and sisters who’s bond has always been unbreakable. So, he thought with five siblings how can you not know love.

            At the age of 5 Ian’s big sister Fiona would tell him all sorts of stories about love and soulmates and how everyone gets one special person just for them. For his entire life since then Ian has believed in his soulmate more than anything, dreaming of the day when he would get to meet his one and only. So when Ian started to realize that he was more into the boys at school he started to picture his soulmate with strong arms and gorgeous eyes.

***

            Things were not so pleasant for Mickey Milkovich. Mickey grew up believing nothing good ever came out of giving into fairy tales and stories where there was only one person for everyone. Often times his dad would call him a pussy and give him a solid slap in the opposite direction for even asking questions about soulmates. It was more considered a laughing matter and something outrageous in the Milkovich household. So as Mickey grew older and his mother was long gone any hope he had left that there was anything good out there waiting for him was gone. So now at age 23 he is doing all that he has to do to survive in this house of horrors he grew up in.

***

            Ian was starting to grow desperate the more time that went on. Every day when he woke up the first thought he had was ‘please let today be the day’. He wanted nothing more than to meet his soulmate so life could really start for him. After all there is no life without love right? It started to seem like everyone around him was finding their one but him. Nearly all the most important people in his life had gotten their tattoo and practically skipped off into the sunset. Fiona, Sue, heck even his little sister Debbie had gotten her tattoo and she had only just turned 17. When was it Ian’s turn? It didn’t used to bother him so much he figured it would happen when it happened, but then his coworker Jason got his. He wouldn’t say he was jealous exactly because really he was happy for Jason, but that meant he had to stop fooling around with the guy; he was not going to be the reason for breaking up soulmates. That just meant his distraction was gone and he was forced to face the reality that he’s still alone.

            Ian forced himself out of bed, dragged his body to the bathroom, opened the medicine cabinet, and took all his pills one by one dreading the day ahead of him. It was a Sunday morning so that meant no work, but Fiona had sent him a text saying to meet at the Gallagher house for a special occasion brunch. Ian was pretty sure he knew what was happening. Fiona had been with Mr. Perfect for nearly 2 years now. He was actually surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. So he got himself dressed and took the Lover to his old childhood home. Upon arriving he saw Lip pull up in front of the house.

“Hey man what’s up?” Lip said when he saw Ian walk up to him.

“Nothing much just ready to get this over with.” Ian said with a sigh.

       With that Ian and Lip walked into the Gallagher house. As soon as they were inside Fiona greeted them with enthusiasm and directed them to the dining table with the rest of their siblings along with Aaron, Fiona’s boyfriend. As soon as everyone was seated around the table Fiona started talking.

“OK, so the reason I called you all here is because I wanted to tell you that me and Aaron got engaged last night.” Fiona had a huge smile on her face and Aaron stood up to join her wrapping an arm around her waist bringing her closer to his side.

All the siblings looked around at each other, then each of them gave out a questionable congrats to the newly engaged couple.

“Come on guys, aren’t you at least a little bit excited for me?” Fiona asked

“Well of course Fi. I just don’t think any of us are really surprised.” Lip said looking to his siblings who gave nods confirming what Lip said.

“Personally I don’t know what took you two so long.” Debbie said to the couple.

“Yeah isn’t that the whole point of finding your soulmate?” Ian asked.

“Well yes, but just because he’s my soulmate doesn’t mean we don’t still have problems like any other couple.” Fiona explained.

         After that they all ate their brunch discussing wedding details until Lip changed the subject. “So… my mark showed up yesterday.” Lip said while he swallowed the food he had been chewing.

“Oh wow! That’s great Lip. I’m so happy for you” Fiona said genuinely

“I’m not.” Lip said eyeing his older sister

“What do you mean? This is a good thing. What is the lucky lady’s name?” Fiona asked with a smile still on her face.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m getting it covered.” Lip said stubbornly

“What?!?” Ian said now full of rage. “You can’t just cover it! This is the person you are meant to be with!”

“It’s my body Ian and I don’t think it’s much of your concern.” Lip said obviously aggravated that his brother is even adding his two cents right now.

“What the Fuck Lip?!? You can’t just ignore this, it’s Fate’s design.” Ian said trying to reason

“Fuck Fate’s design! I don’t want anything to do with it. I want to be able to choose who I end up with. Not have some unknown force decide for me.” and with that Lip stood up, walked out and sped away. Ian sat stunned wondering how his brother could be so selfish. Here he is begging that unknown force to give him his person, and Lip has his laid out on a silver platter for him; yet he just throws it away. Ian knew that he was getting impatient, but what else does he have to do to get what he wants most?

***

          At the start of Mickey’s morning he woke up in a panic first wondering where he was but then as soon as he realized he silently cursed himself. He looked to his right and saw Jerry… or was it Johnathan, whatever the fuck his name was, laying next to him with an arm over Mickey’s torso. Mickey smacked the insulting limb off of him and rushed to get up and tug his pants back on. This was a big mistake was Mickey’s first thought. He never even went to guys houses let alone stay the night with someone, but he was horny as fuck last night and this douche bag was too good for the back alley so Mickey found himself following the guy home and fucking him at a brutal pace. Once they were finished and Mickey had put his Boxers back on to try and leave, Jeremy (seriously what the fuck was his name?) started talking Mickey’s fucking ear off and wouldn’t shut the hell up. So five tequila shots later and a couple Tylenol in between and Mickey must have passed out on the guy. So now while Mickey is trying to hurry and get the fuck out of here before the shithead wakes up he trips over his own shoe and makes a loud clatter that echoes throughout the room. Just then he hears a stir and Mr. Fancy Pants is up and at em’.

“Hey where are you off to? I thought we could get breakfast.” he said.

“Yeah, no that’s just not going to happen.” Mickey said zipping his jeans and slipping his shoes on not even bothering to untie it first.

“Oh Uh, why not?”

“Because I don’t do breakfast. I don’t stay the night, and I definitely don’t come to random fag’s houses. So i’m gonna go, see you never.” Mickey huffed out.

“Ha wow ok, so you’re one of those.” the guy said with annoyed seriousness to his voice.

“One of what?” Mickey asked

“One of those closeted gays who uses anger as a defense mechanism.”

“Hey I’m not fucking gay!” Mickey said voice becoming angrier.

“Sure, ok. You only fucked a guy in the ass. Not gay at all.”

“You know what? Fuck you!” and with that Mickey punched the guy in the face and left while he was still squealing in pain. No one calls a Milkovich gay and gets away with it. So Mickey walked the few blocks back to the southside and entered his childhood home feeling very annoyed and very satisfied.

***

         As he stepped into the house Mickey was hit with a wave of hostility.

“Where the fuck have you been all night?” Terry roared.

Mickey froze in his perch by the door trying to come up with an answer that would explain where he’d been, but would also gain approval from his Father.

“I met a girl at a club last night” Mickey blurted before he could even think.

“A girl? And you spent the night? Don’t tell me you’re becoming a pussy who cuddles son.” Terry said a little more calm.

“Oh no way. I don’t cuddle. We mostly just banged all night anyways.” Mickey said trying to make his voice seem confident.

“Nice rack?” Terry asked with a lift to his brow

“Not really, but she had a pretty nice ass.” Mickey said then instantly felt his face get hot.

“Ok well now that you finally decided to join us there’s something I need to go take care of.” Terry said walking towards the door and leaving the house.

“What was that all about?” Mandy asked Mickey.

“What are you talking about Bitch?” Mickey said with a glare to Mandy.

“That nervous look you had on your face when dad asked you where you were?”

“There was no nervous look. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” Mickey snapped back

“He’s probably getting the itch for that girl he was with last night.” Iggy added

“I ain’t getting no fucking itch. She wasn’t even that good a fuck.” Mickey said mostly honest. The fuck wasn’t that great. Not even average really. Mostly boring actually, but it wasn’t with a she.

“Ok if you say so, but you better not let dad find out. He’ll have your ass if he sees some bitch’s name on your body.” Iggy said not believing him in the slightest.

“Shut the fuck up man you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” Mickey walked out and into his bedroom slamming the door. He was no pussy. Plus it’s not like there was someone actually out there for him anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter already? Yes I was feeling inspired. Thank you all so much for all the comments, It really encourages to keep writing. I'm going to try to do an every Friday posting schedule. Unless of course I get inspired to write and get my chapters done early like today, but otherwise I plan for Fridays. Again I want to say Thank you to my editor @youlovemeandyouregay on instagram.(She also writes her own fics on here where she is Veronica_Milkovich) Please check me out on Instagram as well @gallavich_obsessed and I hope you all enjoy :)

           Ian woke up with a startle as he heard the blaring noise coming from his alarm clock. He sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before heading to the small bathroom in his shitty one bedroom apartment in between the north and south sides of Chicago. He relieved his bladder, took his pills, and got into the shower. While washing his bright red hair, Ian sang along to the song currently playing from his phone. He finished getting ready for the long work day ahead of him and grabbed an apple on his way out the door.

 

***

           Over at the Milkovich house, Mickey was just waking up from a rough night out with Mandy and Iggy. Mickey crawled out of bed gripping his pounding head. _Damn, I really shouldn’t have drank that much._ He walked into the bathroom attached to his room, took a piss, then reached into the medicine cabinet and popped a few tylenol to help sooth his hangover. As Mickey walked into the living room he saw his dad passed out on the couch and Mandy in the kitchen cooking scrambled eggs.

“Hey Dickbreath, want some eggs?” Mandy said a little too full of glee.

“Jesus Mandy, why the fuck are you so cheerful this morning?” Mickey groaned pressing his palm into his eye.

“Not everyone drinks till they pass out Mick.” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“Whatever... What time did he get in?” Mickey asked nodding towards their lump of a father.

“I think I heard him stumbling around in here around like 3.” she said.

“Did he ever say where he ended up going off to?” Mickey asked glancing between his dad and sister.

“Not 100%, but i’m pretty sure I heard him mention something to Jamie yesterday about some fag that needed kicked straight” Mickey visibly flinched at her words. It did not go unnoticed by his sister, but she figured it’s best not to mention it.

 

***

         Once he got to work at the EMT station, Ian went straight to his locker and put on his uniform. As he was buttoning up his shirt he saw Jason walk up beside him out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey Ian.” Jason said trying to sound casual.

Ian glanced up at the man while he continued with the last two buttons. “Hey Jason, What’s up?”

“Nothing much… I was just wondering if I could, um, talk to you for a sec.” Jason said nervously fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt.

“Yeah. Um, sure.” Ian said

“Well… I guess I just wanted to check and see how you are. I know we didn’t exactly leave things in the best place, and I just wanted to try and fix that.” Jason said giving Ian a questioning look. When Ian didn’t answer he continued. “So… I thought maybe you might want to come grab a drink with me and Drew tonight?” Jason finished and reached up to scratch the back of his neck nervously. Just at that moment Ian looked up and saw the curly font on Jason’s wrist, _Drew Matthews_ , and huffed out a breath. “Nah man, I have to get to the gym.” Ian said bitterly

“Come on, Ian.” Jason tried

“We’re cool. Don’t even worry about it.” Ian said more seriously, then gave a small smile so it seemed convincing.

         Ian went on with the rest of his work day annoyed and just wanted to leave so he could get to the gym and work off this frustration with the world around him.

 

***

        Mickey was in the middle of working on the car that had just came in earlier when his phone started ringing. He looked at the caller ID then rolled his eyes and answered.

“What? I’m working.”

“Well not anymore, Dad says to get your ass home. We’re going on a run.” his brother Colin said.

“I can’t just leave asswipe. I’m Fucking busy. You know, work. Like adults have?”  Mickey said in an annoyed tone to his brother.

“You work for fucking Tony. Just tell him dad needs you.” Colin said like it was super obvious.

“Tony isn’t here. His bitch of a wife needed him home. Says she’s ovulating.” Mickey said with a knowing smirk.

“Ew! Jesus fuck, I didn’t need to know that.” Colin said on the phone cringing. “I still can’t believe that big asshole is actually trying to have kids. Like we need Milkovich babies running around.”

“Yeah well, just be glad one of us gets to be happy.” Mickey said with a sigh.

“Yeah man, I guess you’re right. Ok then, I’ll just tell Dad that you’re in charge of the shop and we can take Iggy instead. It’s just that stupid fucker can’t count money worth a shit. You always were the best at math little bro.” and with that the line went dead and Mickey was putting his finishing touches on the car in front of him.

 

***

           His work day had finally come to an end and Ian was on the next available train to the gym. When he arrived he changed into his usual exercise clothes and went straight for the treadmill. He hopped on and started at an easy jog but quickly amped up the speed to a sprint. He could feel his muscles burning and he started breaking into a sweat, but he was determined to keep going and work off any remaining aggravation from his day on the job. He knew deep down that he really had no reason to even be angry with Jason, but seeing that name spelled out across his wrist just reminded Ian that he still didn’t have his.

          After pushing himself to his limit at the gym, Ian gathered his stuff and headed home.

         Back in his little apartment Ian felt more lonely than ever as he looked over to the empty spot on the couch. He turned off the tv, got up, and put something nice on. He was going out.

 

***

         Mickey was wandering the Chicago streets at night when he found himself outside of the Fairytale. He cursed at himself because this is the last place he wanted to be. At least that’s what he told himself. He remembered that his Dad was out of town and decided _fuck it._ He walked into the gay club and immediately grabbed a drink from one of the waiters in tiny gold shorts carrying trays around. He gulped the blue liquid quickly before setting the cocktail glass down at the bar. He looked around at the many dancers in the club trying decide what move to make when he felt someone tap on his shoulder. He spun around quickly ready to start throwing punches, but cooled physically when he saw it was just another dancer. The blonde man opened his mouth to speak but Mickey shut him up by pulling out a $20 and handing it to him. The man thought about telling Mickey that it was actually $25 for a dance but figured what difference does five dollars make. He led Mickey over to the sofas and straddled him to start his dance. Mickey was surprised with himself because he was actually enjoying the push and grind of the dancer. As the dance was coming to an end Mickey looked up and around at the other patrons in the club when he saw a flash of red hair. Something about it felt almost magnetic so Mickey once again surprised himself as he pushed the dancer off his lap and went looking for the owner of the flaming hair.

 

***

         Ian had just walked into the club and decided to go scoping for his newest lay. He saw a few people that could work but didn’t feel quite right, so he moved on to a different area of the club. He searched for a while longer and was about to give up until a shy looking guy with dark brown hair and eyes to match stopped him in his tracks. “Hey, so I don't usually do this but I couldn’t help but notice you from my seat over there. Do you want to get out of here?” he said.

“Hmm, short and sweet I like it.” Ian said

“I’ll tell you a little bit about myself on the way to your place.” the so called shy guy said with a smirk. Ian led the way out of the club. If his soulmate wants to take his sweet time showing up Ian would do everything he could to distract himself.

 

***

          Mickey was frantically searching the club for another peak at that gorgeous man. Of course he only saw the back of his head but that’s beside the point. He was just about to give up when he saw the flames again walking out the exit. Mickey started scrambling to get to the doors, but it was just his luck that every fucker and his grandpa wanted to get in Mickey’s way. He finally shoved past everyone and made it out the doors but it was too late his ginger was gone. He huffed out a breath and wondered what the hell had gotten into him; chasing some random guy out of a club like some bitch. He turned and walked down the street towards home.

        Mickey made it home around 2am and shrugged off his jacket. He looked around the house but Mandy was no where around. He figured she’d went out and found some guy to fuck and just ended crashing at his place, so he kicked off his shoes and stripped of all his clothes except his boxers. As Mickey was laying in bed he started scratching at his left breastbone. He didn’t really pay it any attention at first, but then it started becoming violently itchy. _What the fuck is going on?_ He thought. Then he remembered something his brothers always talked about when he was a kid. _“You don’t want to catch the itch man, that’s some brutal shit.”_ and _“You aren’t a pussy are you Mick? Soulmates are for pussies. First you get the itch then you get some bitch’s name on your body. Don’t let it happen Mickey.”_ And now here he is uncontrollably scratching his chest and all he can think is "Oh Shit!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while since I've updated, I've just not been motivated to write lately, but Here is Chapter 3 for you guys. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. As always thank you to @youlovemeandyouregay for being my right hand man in writing this:) 
> 
> Possible Trigger Warning! Thinking about attempted suicide.
> 
> *I learned how to link pictures to my text so make sure to check it out*

          Ian was pulled out of sleep by the smell of bacon wafting into his bedroom. He groaned and got out of bed with a stretch of his limbs. He tugged on his boxers that were tossed on the floor beside his bed and wandered into the kitchen to find his guest from the night before. 

“Good Morning.” Ian yawned

“Oh hey, you’re up. I found the bacon and eggs in the fridge, I hope you don’t mind.” the man said with a smile

“Oh no, you’re fine. Thanks for cooking. You didn’t have to.” Ian said awkwardly as he grabbed a plate from the cupboard. “I, uh, I actually never caught your name.”

“Oh it’s Noah, I guess we should have started with that huh.” he said

“Yeah maybe… I’m-” Ian started to say his own name but got cut short.

“Ian,” Noah started. Ian looked over to the man clearly confused and slightly uncomfortable. He may have had a few drinks, but he swears he never told this guy his name. “I saw a few pill bottles prescribed to you when I was looking for some tylenol in your medicine cabinet.” 

“You went through my medicine cabinet.” Ian said eyes wide and brows furrowed. 

“Yeah, but don’t worry it’s not a big deal.” Noah said with a shrug.

_ Who does this guy think he is?  _ “Um yeah, I think you should go now. I have a long day ahead of me.” Ian said walking towards the door. 

“Oh ok, well I had an amazing time last night. We should definitely do this again.” Noah said eagerly

“Yeah probably not.” Ian then shut the door in his face and rolled his eyes. He grabbed more bacon then plopped down on his couch with a huff. He was really getting sick of all these lame guys. When will the perfect guy ever come along? Ian was beginning to think he didn’t exist.

 

***

          By morning Mickey had forgotten about the panic from the night before. His itchy chest was completely itch free, and he went along with his day like nothing had even happened. He was just arriving to the shop and unlocking the doors when he heard the ringing coming from his pocket. He quickly answered when he saw that it was his brother Tony calling. “Hey man, what's going on? I thought you weren’t working today.”

“I’m not, but I’m having one of my buddies bring in a new project for you.” Tony said

“Come on man. I can barely keep up with what we’ve got here already.” Mickey said with a huff

“I know but I promise this one will be worth it. Plus once you’re done with it you can keep it if you want.” Tony said with promise.

“Ughh fine. But you better not be messing with me man.” Mickey said threatening

“I’m not Mick, I swear. You’ll love it.” 

           It wasn’t even an hour later when someone pulled up to the shop. Mickey looked at the car with furrowed brows. Why would someone be in this southside neighborhood with a car this nice. A tall burly man stepped out and walked up to Mickey holding a stack of papers and a pen. 

“Are you Mikhailo?” he said

“Um… yeah, Can I help you?” Mickey said clearly confused.

“Sign Here.” the man said as he thrusted the papers towards Mickey. Mickey scanned over the page then looked the man in the eyes with furrowed brows.

“Wait… You’re Tony’s friend? This is the car he sent?” Mickey asked a little in shock.

“Yup, but I can’t release it to you until you sign the damn papers. So-” *tap tap* the man tapped the papers with the pen before holding the pen out for Mickey to take. “Come on I don’t have all day man. I have another run to make.” 

“Ok. Alright.” Mickey grabbed the pen and scribbled his signature in all the places he was told to and then the man was gone. Mickey stood there long after the older man had left staring at the car, afraid that if he so much as blinked it would disappear. In front of him was a 1970 Black Dodge Charger in great condition. Of course it was nowhere near perfect, it still needed some work, it could use a new paint job and the engine would probably need to be completely replaced, but she was a beauty still and Mickey was in disbelief. He finally stopped staring at the car long enough to place the title and keys in his back pocket and whip out his phone to call Tony. His brother picked up on the second ring.

“Hey man, what’s up? Did the car arrive yet?” Tony asked

“Um yeah, about that… Are you out of your fucking mind?!” Mickey started

“What? Is it in horrible shape? I saw it the other day and it was looking pretty good-” Tony said but got cut off by Mickey’s growing tension.

“No man it’s fucking gorgeous but you can’t be having this shit delivered on this side of town jackass. It’s gonna attract cops like a moth to a flame. Our whole business will shut down.” Mickey said his anxiety growing the longer the car sat outside the shop.

“I’m not an idiot Mickey. Do you really think I would steal a car that nice and just park it in front of my shop?”Tony said

“Well yeah because that’s what you fucking did!” Mickey said his voice in a harsh whisper

“Mick, it’s legit. I didn’t fucking steal it, I bought it.” Tony said like it should have been so fucking obvious.

“What do you mean you bought it? There’s no way, this shit ain’t cheap man.” Mickey said

“Well me and the boys went to a junkyard auction a couple blocks down and they had all kinds of old beatdown classics. So when I saw that one I just knew you would love it and she ran pretty cheap since the engine is practically stripped, but I knew you would be able to fix it up. I took the chance and figured I’d get it for you. You’re Welcome.” Tony said with a sly smile knowing that Mickey must be practically jumping for joy in that moment.

“Holy Shit man! Are you fucking kidding me? Thank you! What do I owe you? I don’t have much now but I can work extra hours and save up.” Mickey said super ecstatic

“Nothing bro, you work hard enough. You deserve it. Plus out of all the shitheads we have in our fucked up family you always were my favorite. You work the hardest. Don’t tell the others.” Tony said

“Alright well seriously, thank you Tony. If you need anything else just let me know.” Mickey finished up the conversation with his brother then hung up with a smile as he walked over to the car examining his new prized possession. 

***

            Ian sat around his apartment in his boxers for most of the day since he didn't have to work till his night shift. After his uncomfortable encounter that morning with last nights lay he just wasn’t feeling up to doing much. So here he sat in only his boxers binge watching  _ How I Met Your Mother _ wishing his love life could be as simple as Marshall and Lily’s. He just wanted to meet his one, get married, have kids, and be happy forever. Nut maybe it just didn’t work out that way for everyone. 

Just as he was about to drift off, there was a knock at the door. He got up with a huff and opened the door to see his brother standing there with a look on his face like he had committed a crime.

“Hey man, what's up?” Ian said to his not so innocent older brother as he stepped to the side to let Lip inside.

“Ok I didn’t come here to fight so please don’t get mad, but I may have done a thing...” Lip said looking nervous.

“Ok…” Ian said giving Lip the side eye. Lip slowly lifted his shirt to reveal a new tattoo down the side of his torso, across his ribs. It was a large compass with [geometric details.](https://goo.gl/images/VS3ig7) Ian stood staring at it for a moment before it finally clicked in his head. “You didn’t! Please tell me you weren’t actually stupid enough to cover up her name Lip!” Ian was outraged. His brother, the A+ student, must be the dumbest smart guy he knew. 

“I told you Ian, I don’t want this. And I certainly didn’t ask for it.” Lip started. 

“What I would give to have my mark and you just fucking throw that away?! This is so unfair!” Ian said pacing the room, pointing the occasional threatening glare Lip’s way. 

“Listen man, i’m sorry, but this is your thing not mine. I want a choice in this.” Lip said

“A choice?! You don’t think I want a fucking choice Lip! God you are so selfish, all you think about is yourself.” Ian said his eyes now beginning to burn as angry tears started to fall. Ian then left the room to walk onto his balcony and have a smoke. Lip sighed and sat down on the couch, giving his brother a few minutes to himself. 

After 20 minutes had passed without Ian coming back into the apartment Lip decided he should go check on his younger brother.

“Hey… Look man, I know you feel strongly about this and you think I’m the biggest idiot around, and hell maybe I am, but can you just try looking at it from my point of view?” Lip said trying to reason. Ian huffed and sat up.  _ Something’s gotta give right? _

“Fine… ok fine. I just don’t get how you can go on like nothing happened. I mean here I am waking up everyday begging every higher power out there that I’ll get mine, so when I heard you got yours I guess I was just a little jealous. It’s your life though man. Do what you want.” Ian finished.

“Thanks man, and hey, I’m sure you’ll get it eventually, just keep your head up… even if you don’t then oh well. I’m sure there’s plenty of guys out there who will willingly present there asses to you.” Lip said with a smirk. Then the two brothers broke out into laughter. Life was far from perfect but in that moment they had each other and that’s all that really mattered.

***

          Mickey spent the rest of the day working on his new car. As Tony had said the engine was pretty much fucked so Mickey instantly put in an order for new parts. After putting in many hours, Mickey decided to be done for the day and close up shop a little early. As Mickey was on his way home he kept getting the feeling that he was being followed by someone, or maybe it was something, but everytime he looked around he saw no one so he just continued walking. He then decided to pull out a cigarette. Just as he was lighting up the sound of sirens began wailing and an ambulance came zooming past, causing him to jump since it practically popped up out of nowhere. Mickey was about to flip the emergency vehicle off for almost making him shit his pants, but was stopped by a sudden burning sensation in his chest, like he had just been branded. “Ah… What the fuck?!” Mickey said as he rubbed his left pec muscle with furrowed brows. It only lasted a second before the pain was completely gone as if it never came at all. Though the pain wasn’t the only thing that had suddenly disappeared, he now felt completely alone on the sidewalk. This night just kept getting more and more strange. He was just ready to get home, take a shower, and do nothing for the rest of the night. Little did he know his night was just getting started. 

***

           Ian was sitting at work talking and goofing off with Sue when a call came in over the radio. “Protocol 25-B-4, Possible Jumper, North Avenue Bridge, We need all available ambulance at the scene immediately,” the dispatcher said. They grabbed what they needed and were off, sirens blaring.

“Possible suicide attempt?” Ian asked, a nervous energy washing over him.

“Sounds like it. You gonna be ok?” Sue asked giving his thigh a reassuring squeeze. 

“Yeah. I’m good,” Ian said. 

They weren’t the first to arrive on scene, but they jumped out anyway to assess the situation. There were a few police and other EMTs trying to talk the woman off the ledge with no success. Ian wandered over while Sue talked to an officer about the current dilemma. “Ma’am we need you to step on this side of the rail please so we can talk,” the officer in charge said. 

“Why should I? It’s not worth it! There’s nothing you can do for me,” the woman said her eyes red rimmed. Ian walked over and held out a shaky hand to get the officer’s attention. “Let me?” Ian said. “Okay kid, lets see what you can do,” and with that the officer took a step back and watched Ian. 

“Hi. My name is Ian Gallagher,” Ian told the girl. She had brown curly hair that was in a disheveled state and a yellow dress that was torn in more than one place. 

“Maggie,” She said shyly. 

“Well Maggie, it’s nice to meet you. Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Ian said trying to keep his voice calm. 

“I… I have no one. My family doesn’t understand me, never has. They want to put me in the hospital. I can’t go back there. Please don’t make me go back there,” She said desperately with tear filled eyes. 

“Ok Maggie, Listen I know it may not seem like anyone can understand, but I do-“ Ian started to say.

“No you don’t! No one does and No one can!” She said defensively 

“Hey, it’s ok. You’re right maybe I don’t know your exact situation but I’ve been put in those hospitals myself,” Ian said remembering this first time he had to be put into the hospital and how horrible it had been for him. 

“Really? Why? What did you have to go in for?” Maggie said curiously.

Ian took a breath and started speaking again.

“I have Bipolar Disorder. Some days I feel on top of the world but others I can barely get myself out of bed. Unmedicated I can be a danger to myself and others. One time it got real bad, so bad that my family had no choice but to put me in a hospital where they forced pills down my throat and would sedate me if I got out of control. So I may not know exactly what you are going through, but I know pain, i know what it’s like to lose control, but that doesn’t mean we have to let it alter our entire lives,” Ian finished with a small smile hoping he got into the girl’s head even if just a little.

“Ok… ok if you can do all that and still make something of yourself then I can at least give this another try. I’m coming over,” She announced then started to climb back over the rail. Ian went over to help the girl get over. Just as she made it halfway over a fire truck's horn blared startling Maggie causing her to slip. Everyone around gasped and started towards the edge. Luckily Ian was close enough to the her and grabbed her just in the nick of time pulling her over. She collapsed into Ian’s chest with labored breaths and tears soaking Ian’s uniform. Ian was frozen holding the girl to him, his eyes wide and his chest heaving. 

              30 minutes later and Ian was sitting in the van completely silent when Sue finally got in and started driving. She didn’t even try making conversation at first but then finally spoke up.

“Gallagher you ok?” she asked. Still Ian didn’t say anything just kept staring forward. “Gallagher… what’s going on?”

“She almost fell,” Ian said in a barely audible whisper mostly to himself. “She would have just fell and died,”

“She didn’t though, you caught her. You saved her life Ian,” Sue said trying to reassure him. 

“But what if I hadn’t?” Ian asked finally looking towards Sue with tears threatening to fall. “What if she had fallen?”

“Hey, you can’t let the ‘what ifs’ get to you Ian. She is fine. She’ll be back with her family soon enough and she’ll be able to move on with her life, and it’s because you saved her. I’m not just talking about catching her when she slipped either. I’m talking about talking her into wanting to come back off the ledge and keep living her life. You did that. And i’m extremely proud of you,” Sue said giving Ian a smile. Ian took a deep breath and found the energy to give a small smile back.

***

            Mickey walked into the house to find Mandy sitting on the couch watching some girly TLC show. “How the hell do you watch this shit?” Mickey asked with an eye roll. 

“Don’t worry about it shithead, I never asked you to watch it with me,” she said in response.

“Whatever. What are you doing tonight? Not whoring around again I hope,” Mickey said with a glance at his sister. He knew Mandy could take care of herself, but she was still his little sister and he never would like the thought of her screwing a new guy every week. 

“Not tonight. I was actually thinking of going to the Alibi and grabbing a few drinks. You want to come with?” She asked with a smile.

“Nah, I think i’m just gonna grab a shower and chill out here for the rest of the night… Long day at work,” he said with a shrug.

“Alright then,” Mandy then grabbed her coat and purse and walked out of the Milkovich house. 

            Mickey did exactly as he said he would. He quickly stripped his clothes and jumped in the shower. As he was stepping out he wrapped his towel around his waist. He then leaned over and wiped at the fogged up mirror. He squinted his eyes when he saw something odd on his reflection. Slowly but surely it came into view, backwards in the mirror but still clear as day he saw the thing that made his heart drop into his stomach,  _ Ian Gallagher _ , printed neatly across his heart. Mickey immediately started rubbing aggressively at it until it almost became raw, willing it to go away, but of course it stuck. “SHIT!” Mickey cursed “This can’t be happening. No, no, no,” Mickey said pacing the bathroom pressing his hands into his hair. Just then Iggy busted in the bathroom after hearing his brother cursing. “Yo, what the fuck is going on in here?” he asked. 

Mickey then snapped covering his chest. “Get the fuck out shit for brains! Iggy go!” Iggy quickly turned and high tailed out of there closing the door behind him. “What the fucks got into him?” on the other side of the door Mickey was in panic mode wondering how the hell he was possibly going to fix this. So he decided to do the one thing he always did when he tried to deny who he was. He had to go find a bitch and pound her until he could convince fate that he was not fucking gay! He left his room after throwing the first thing he saw on and stomped out of the house. Iggy was on the porch smoking a blunt. “Where you going Mick?” he asked.

“Finding someone to fuck.” Mickey mumbled grumpily. With that he was gone. 

 

***

           Mandy was sitting in the Alibi enjoying her 4th drink that night and already feeling a light buzz when a tall gorgeous redhead walked in. She knows that she promised Mickey no fucking around tonight but how is she supposed to pass up an opportunity  when it was this pretty. The tall stranger sat down at the end of the bar and motioned for the bartender,

“Jack Daniels. Keep em coming,” he said. Mandy widened her eyes and saw her opportunity show itself. She got up and walked over to him. 

“Rough Day?” she asked

“Uh… Yeah, pretty much,” he said as he rubbed his eyes.

“I’m Mandy,” she said holding her hand out for him to shake.

“Ian,” he replied taking the offered hand.

“Nice to meet you. So what brings you to a bar on the south side?” she asked.

“I’m from here actually. My family lives over on North Wallace. Kev and V are our neighbors actually,”

“Oh my God really?! Are you a Gallagher?” Mandy was shocked. She remembers hearing stories about the Gallagher family and their crazy alcoholic father, but she never actually met any of the children. 

“Yeah. How did you know?” Ian asked.

“I’m a Milk-” Mandy started to tell him about her last name and family but was cut short when a regular at the bar fell and crashed into a nearby table. 

“Shit. So Mandy… have you met your special someone yet?” Ian asked starting to feel the whiskey he’d been throwing back. Mandy blushed at the question.

“No not yet, but soulmates are overrated anyways right? I’m more of a hit em till one sticks kind of girl. Why, are you looking?” Mandy said now sliding her hand up Ian’s thigh.

“Woah,” Ian started chuckling. “Sure, but not here. Not with you.”

Mandy was taken back by the comment. “What, am I not good enough for you? You got out of the Southside and now trash like me doesn’t work for you anymore?!” She was now getting heated ready to bash this guy’s head in. How dare he. 

“Hey no, that’s not it, not even a little bit, it’s just that… well, let’s just say I prefer my partners to be packing.” Ian said with a smirk as he downed the rest of his drink.

“What?” Mandy asked, but then it hit her. “Wait you’re… you’re gay?” she asked in a whisper. 

“Well yeah,” he said with a shrug “but trust me if I was straight I would totally accept your offer.” He finished with a smile.

“Holy Shit, That’s great!” She said then they both started cackling. 

They had steady conversation for a few more hours before they both decided to head out and go home. Ian took Mandy home first. “This is it,” Mandy said once they got to the Milkovich house. “Thanks for walking me home, you didn’t have to.”

“It’s really no problem, it’s a bad neighborhood,” Ian told her, but had a feeling she could do more damage than he was even capable of. 

“Well, goodnight Ian Gallagher,” She said with a wave.

“Night Mandy.” Ian said then took off towards the L heading in the direction of his apartment.

 

***

         Mickey had scanned the Northside bar he was in 3 times already trying to find his target, but every time he saw someone who might work his body froze and he wouldn’t move. He had given up forcing himself to fuck girls years ago, but he still got it up for them every now and then when his dad would send some whore into his room telling him “it’s a gift Mickey” yeah whatever, but you don’t tell Terry Milkovich no, so he did what he had to do. Mickey was about to just say fuck it and head back home, but his thoughts went back to the reason he came here in the first place. He rubbed his chest once more then went up to the first girl he saw, who just so happened to be very drunk. “Hey, you wanna fuck?” Mickey asked with a glare. The girl gave him a once over then replied with a “yeah, ok.” 

          They went to the nearest bathroom and went at it for way longer than Mickey had originally planned then he was exiting the bar with a huff. He started mindlessly wandering the street before stopping in a dark alley where he decided he would take a peek. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slowly pulling his shirt down to reveal his chest. He opened his eyes one at a time then puffed out hot air and screamed out a strangled “FUCK!” into to the darkness. He then once again started pacing then stopped long enough to full on punch the brick wall in front of him. He heard his hand crunch as it made contact with the wall. “Shit, God Damnit! Ahhh!” He held his injured hand to himself then started heading in the direction of his family home. 

Upon arrival Mandy and Iggy were at the kitchen table playing BlackJack with their deck of cards. They looked up when Mickey walked into the house cursing and holding his bruised bloody hand. 

“Shit Mickey, what did you do to your hand?” Mandy was the first to ask what they were both thinking. 

“Got pissed off, hit a wall.” He huffed out as he sat down at the table holding his hand out for his sister to examine, knowing it wasn’t even worth trying to resist. She looked at each finger and skimmed over his knuckles with a soft touch of her hand. She developed a motherly touch over the years from taking care of many injuries. “Welp, looks like you broke your hand,” She said then stood up to open the freezer. “Here, put these on it,” She ordered throwing a bag of frozen peas at him. Mickey obeyed then stood and went to his bedroom pacing once more before finally deciding to just crash in his bed. Apparently whoever this ‘Gallagher’ asshole was, he wasn’t going to go easily, the clingy bastard. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry my updates have been all over the place guys, I try to update as often as I can but If i'm not in a writing mood I try not to force myself to write because then I'm putting stuff out that is half ass and I would rather wait and put out stuff that is worth reading. I've already started on Chapter 5 so it should definitely be out sooner. I'm gonna try to get back on a posting schedule. Hopefully Sundays will be my day *fingers crossed* As always thank you to @youlovemeandyouregay on Instagram who I wouldn't be able to do any of this without. The Slow Burn continues. Enjoy!

Nearly a week after Mickey got his dreaded mark he had finally started to calm down a bit regarding the whole situation. Although he was far from forgetting about it, he figured it was hidden anyways so what his Dad and brothers don’t know about won’t hurt them, after all it was just one more thing about his secret sexuality that he would have to keep to himself. He now found himself having to keep his shirt on during any and all strenuous exercise, which didn’t go unnoticed by Mandy. She had been giving him curious looks and asking questions all week. It started the morning after he got the mark;

“So you gonna tell me now what pissed you off so bad last night that you thought it would be a good idea to try and win a fight against a brick wall,” She started. 

“Don’t worry about it. It happened and it’s over, so drop it,” Mickey had replied with a huff.

Mandy thought better than to push so she dropped it for the time being, but two days later her curiosity grew. Apparently Mickey had been wearing Iggy’s ‘good’ shirt so when he came into the living room and saw it their older brother had started demanding it back. Mickey started to strip the shirt off without hesitation since it’s just a damn shirt, nothing to start a fight over. He got it about halfway up his torso before he paused, went wide eyed, and shuffled the shirt back down stating “No Asswipe, I was wearing it first. Go find another shirt to wear and fuck off,” of course this quickly started World War fucking 3 in the Milkovich living room, but not before Mandy caught that fear in her brother’s eye. Now here they are today, she had been searching for her good weed for what felt like an hour, so finally she decide to give up and go ask Mickey if he’d seen it. She walked into his room unannounced because when did anyone in this house ever fucking knock. He was in the middle of changing his shirt and as soon as Mandy walked in he instantly held his shirt to his chest. “Mandy, what the fuck! Get out!” Mickey yelled.

“Ok, what the hell is going on with you? First you go punching walls for no Goddamn reason and now your covering up like a girl trying to cover her titties after being caught in the act,” Mandy snapped.

“How about don’t fucking worry about it, now get out!” Mickey said stepping towards her to push her out of the room, but she was quicker. She grabbed the shirt he was holding to his chest and ran to the other side of the room. Mickey cursed and grabbed the first article of clothing he could find, which just so happen to be a sweatshirt, and slipped it on, but not before mandy could see what he was hiding. “Holy shit Mick! Is that your-” she gasped getting cut short by Mickey’s hand clasping her mouth shut as he kicked his bedroom door closed. 

“Yes… Ok fine, yes,” Mickey confirmed.

“Holy shit. When did this happen?” Mandy asked.

“Last week… the night I punched the wall,” he said eyes downcast to the floor as he chewed nervously at his bottom lip.

“Wow Mick, this is petty big-” she started.

“No it’s fucking not ok! It can’t be,” Mickey said in a harsh whisper.

“Yes Mickey, it kind of is. You’re the only one of us to get your mark. You can get out and be happy,” she said wanting nothing more for her brother. “So… what’s her name?” Mandy asked 

“Nope, no fucking way! Not happening,” Mickey said standing.

“Come on! Show me... I won’t tell anyone Mickey. Don’t you know that you can trust me?” Mandy gave her brother a pleading puppy dog look. “Please,”

“Goddamnit Mandy, don’t fucking look at me like that,” She always knew that was one of Mickey’s weaknesses. “Shit… Fine, but I swear to god Mandy you can’t tell anyone! Not another living soul can know about this,” Mickey said with an expression more serious than she’d ever seen on him before. 

“Ok, yeah I promise,” she said. Mickey let all the air out of his lungs and turned so his back was facing Mandy as he lifted his shirt off. He took another deep breath and turned around revealing the name to his sister. As she realized what was displayed on her brother’s chest her eyes went wider than ever before and she felt frozen in place, not because it was another man’s name because honestly she’d had a small suspicion for years, but who the name belonged to. 

“Jesus Christ Mandy! Fucking say something!” Mickey said in a panic

“Mickey, oh my God!” Mandy finally spoke up.

“I know… Fuck I know! If Dad ever finds out his son is a fag i’m dead,” Mickey said his head hung low.

“No Mick, not that. I know him.” she said pointing at Mickey’s tattoo

“Wh- what do you mean you know him?” Mickey stuttered

“I know him! Ian Gallagher. I met him last week, at the Alibi,” Mandy confirmed. “He grew up over on North Wallace. Lives on the Northside now. He’s an EMT.”

“What the fuck Mandy?!” Mickey said pacing his room now.

“I could introduce the two-” she said getting cut short by Mickey’s outraged, “No! Fuck no! Not fucking happening.”

“Come on Mick. He’s pretty awesome… hot as all hell too. God if he was my soulmate,” she said with a smirk

“Well you can have him! I can’t do this,” and with that Mickey was out the door, leaving Mandy rolling her eyes. Her brother could be so hard to deal with sometimes. 

 

***

“So Ian, I got a phone call from your sister letting me know that you took a few days off work. You wanna tell me what that was about?” his therapist, Dr. Sarah West, asked about 15 minutes into his weekly session. Ian sighed.  _ Fiona really needs to mind her own damn business. _

“I had a call that might have got to me a little bit,” Ian said crossing his arms. Some days he didn’t mind therapy so much but today he just found himself annoyed with it. 

“Ok. Do you want to tell me what happened?” She asked pushing for more. 

Ian rolled his eyes and sat back on the couch.  _ Might as well get this over with right?  _ “We got a call over to North Avenue Bridge, possible jumper. When we arrived on scene she was over the ledge ready to jump. She couldn’t have been much older than my brother Lip. Still had her full life ahead of her and she was just ready to throw it all away. I just wanted to help her… and I did, but she slipped,” Ian explained, a tear making its way down his face. 

“Ian,” Dr. West started as she handed him the box of tissues. Ian took one hesitantly.

“I know she didn’t really fall, ok! I just,” Ian started then huffed out a breath and put his head into his hands. “It felt so real. Like she was just gone.” 

“But she’s not. You saved her, Ian. You’re the reason that she got to go home to her family,” she said with Ian’s hands now in her own.    
“Yeah well I don’t feel like a hero. Quite the opposite actually,” Ian said finally looking up to meet the doctor’s eyes.

“I know. You’ll be ok kid,” She with a small smile. “Ok, couple last minute things. You been taking all your meds?” She asked looking down at her clipboard, but when Ian didn’t answer she looked up questioningly. 

Ian let out a breath and rolled his eyes before answering. “Yes.”

“Ok, good. Any Manic or Depressive episodes?” She continued.

“No and no,” Ian said tapping his foot just ready to leave.

“Good, good. Alrighty then, For the next 10 days I’m gonna up your Zoloft dosage from 50 mgs to 100mgs. So 2 pills in the morning along with your other medication.” She said as she handed him the prescription slip. 

“I haven’t been depressed though! I just missed a few days of work.” Ian whined.

“Ian, 2 pills in the morning.” Dr. West said as she attempting for a second time to hand Ian to slip. 

“Ugh, fine.” Ian said as he snatched it and stood to leave. 

“Ian,” Ian stopped with his hand on the door and looked back at his therapist. “You’re doing a great job. Keep up the good work,” She finished with a smile. Ian smiled back and walked out of the office. 

 

***

Mickey was about half way out of Canaryville before Mandy finally caught up to him.    
“Mickey! Slow the fuck down!” Mandy yelled after him. Mickey didn’t though he kept walking stubbornly in the direction he was headed. “Mickey! Mick! Oh my fucking god you asshole!” Mandy screamed as she tried picking up the pace to catch up with her brother. 

By the time they arrived at Tony’s garage Mandy had finally caught up and was practically stepping on the back of Mickey’s shoes. “Hey Mick, Mands. What are you two doing here?” Tony asked once he saw his little siblings standing in the doorway. 

“I’m here to work on my car. I don’t know what she’s doing here,” Mickey said sending a threatening glare Mandy’s way. 

“What? Is a girl not allowed to hang out with her big brothers without question?” Mandy asked innocently. 

“Well I guess not,” Tony said giving Mickey a confused look. Mickey just shrugged. “Anyways… since you’re here Mick, do you mind if I run out to grab some parts?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Mickey responded from under the hood of his car. Tony shrugged on his coat and was gone a minute later leaving Mickey and Mandy alone in the shop. “So… are we gonna talk about what the fuck just happened at home?” Mandy asked with a raised brow.

“Nothing to talk about,” Mickey mumbled. Mandy rolled her eyes behind her brothers back and huffed out before speaking again. “Bullshit. You get your fucking mark and instead of doing something about it you want to sit around and pretend it doesn’t exist? Cut the pussy crap Mickey! Grow some fucking balls and do something about it.” Mickey closed his eyes and clenched his jaw from his spot under the hood before he came back up. He turned around to face his sister who was leaning against a car with her arms crossed. “You know what? How about you try shutting your fucking mouth for once in your life. You don’t know about any of this. You don’t know what I got going on, so mind your own goddamn business for once Mandy!” Mickey said in a harsh whisper taking a step towards his sister. Mandy stood her ground though, not planning on backing down anytime soon. She pushed off the car to stand straight up facing her brother. “You know maybe you’re right about me not knowing what you personally got going on, but don’t you pretend for a minute that I don’t know about anything! I’ve been living with that asshole too Mickey! I fucking know what he’s capable of. At least you can hide the things that make you different. I can’t fucking hide being a girl, Mick! So don’t you dare ever tell me I don’t get it again.” Mandy wiped away the tear before it even had a chance to fall and walked out of the shop. Mickey’s chest quickly filled with air and he screamed at the top of his lungs, flipping a work tray over in the process. He leaned against his car and slid down it until he was sitting on the hard floor, pressing the balls of his hands into his eyes. He didn’t know who he was more upset with; his dad for being the biggest shithead ever created, his soulmate, whoever he was, for just simply being, or himself for having all his demons and letting them take over his life. He wanted out. He wanted to be allowed happiness, for himself, for his siblings. Surely even a bunch of trash children like them deserved something better than the life they’ve been given. 

 

***

Ian was leaving the pharmacy when he thought now would be the perfect time to call and bitch at Fiona for shoving her nose places where it didn’t belong, as always. She answered on the third ring a little too cheerful; “Hey sweetface!” 

“Fiona, did you call my therapist about me missing work?” he asked getting straight to the point.

Fiona sighed, “I was worried about you, Ian. That couldn’t have been easy on you, so i’m glad you decided to take the days off, but I knew you wouldn’t have told Dr. West about it yourself so I just gave her a call myself,” she tried to reason. 

“It’s not your job to call my therapist for me and tell her the things that I don’t want to tell her! You aren’t my mother, Fiona!” Ian yelled out with a huff.

“Right and that’s exactly why I did it! You think Monica would have ever done this shit for you? No! Hell, if she could have had it her way you wouldn’t even be medicated,” Fiona knew how to push his buttons, that was for sure, but he was an adult now for fucks sake. Not some naive little kid that she could push around anymore.

“Maybe you’re right about our mother, but that doesn’t give you the right to call my doctor for me about my private business. So… I want you- yeah, I want you to delete her number, Fiona,” Ian decided. He was putting his foot down. He knew his sister was not happy about this.

“What?! No. Ian, you are- you are being ridiculous. What if there is an emergency? I am your Emergency contact!” She stuttered and stumbled over her words.

“Exactly so if there is an emergency while I am there, they will call you,” Ian explained with a roll of his eyes. Just then, as he was about to start heading towards the L, he looked up to see Mandy Milkovich with her arms very full of grocery bags. His mood instantly lifted and he forgot about his grumpy sister on the phone.

“Iannnn! Are you there?” Fiona hollered through the speaker. 

“Oh, Hey Fi, I gotta go. I really don’t have time to argue right now. We’ll pick this back up later, yeah?” and with that Ian clicked the  _ end call button  _ and started jogged over to Mandy. 

“Hey, Mandy!” Ian yelled after her. Mandy looked up at hearing her name. And smiled when she recognized who it was. 

“Ian Gallagher? Is that you?” she asked even though she already knew the answer.

“Yeah. How are things? Here, want me to help you with some of those bags?”Ian asked and reached out for Mandy to deposit some of the bags into his hands. They started walking towards the L together. 

They fell into easy conversation throughout the ride until Ian went to get up with her when the train was pulling up to Mandy’s stop. “Um, what are doing? This is my stop,” Mandy asked giving Ian a confused look. 

“Well you can’t expect me just to make you carry all these bags home by yourself now can you?” Ian asked with a lifted brow and a smirk.

“It’s not safe,” Mandy tried to reason with her new friend knowing that Mickey would have her ass if she showed up with his soulmate on their doorstep.

“Come on Mandy. Did you forget I grew up around these parts? I think I can handle taking a few groceries down the street,” Ian huffed. 

“Uggh, fine. But you don’t come past the stairs,” she said with a glare. 

“Ok. Let’s go!” Ian said cheerfully and started high tailing towards the Milkovich family home. Mandy jogged with the rest of the bags determined to get ahead of Ian just incase things started going down hill. 

 

***

After spending the past few hours putting in some work on his car, Mickey decided to head back home and face his little sister. He figured about this time she would be needing help putting the groceries away anyways. When Mickey arrived at his childhood home he decided to come in through the back door so he walked right into the kitchen and could start putting food away. Once he got into the house he could hear muffled voices coming from outside of the front door. He was about to go peak out the window to see who it was, but was interrupted by Mandy stepping into the house. “Who was that?” Mickey asked. 

“Holy shit, Mick! You scared me. I didn’t expect you to be here,” she said with her hand to her chest. Mickey gave her the side eye then started walking towards the front door to see who his sister was speaking to. Mandy went wide eyed and ran in front of her brother hoping to stop him before he could make it outside. Unfortunately for her Mickey was gonna put up a fight and the commotion caused her guest to get antsy. 

“Hey, Um Mandy, You alright in there?” he hollered into the house. The cringe on Mandy’s face gave her away. “Yep. All good. I’ll be right out,” Mandy hollered back. 

“Mandy… Is that?” Mickey asked eyes wide and nostrils flared.

“Yes. Ok, Fuck! I ran into him at the grocery story,” she whispered harshly.

“And you thought it would be a good idea to bring him home! Have you lost your fucking mind?!” Mickey whisper shouted back. 

“He helped me bring the groceries. I tried to tell him that it wasn’t a good idea, but he is a stubborn fucker,” she replied. Mickey just rolled his eyes. They stood there for a moment more before Mickey finally spoke up. “Well get him out of here. It’s not safe for him here… even if he was yours.” Mandy smirked at the last part. Mickey huffed “Go!” as he shoved her toward the door. 

 

***

Mandy walked out onto the front porch and closed the door behind her to find Ian sitting on the bottom step. “Hey,” she said as she plopped down next to him. 

“Is everything ok?” Ian asked.

“Oh, that, yeah all is good,” she said smiling. “So I’m actually gonna have to ask you to leave. I don’t want to, but my brothers are kind of protective, so you know,” she said with a shrug hoping he would take the hint. 

“Oh, well ok then,” he said standing up. “Well it was nice seeing you again Mandy.”

“Yeah you too,” she said shyly. As Ian was walking away she called out, “Hey Gallagher!”

“Yeah,” Ian said now walking backwards.

“Would you want to come get a drink with me and my brother tonight?” she asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

“Sure. What time?” 

“8:30pm, The Alibi. Don’t be late,” she yelled out. Ian turned back around and threw a thumbs up over his head as he continued to walk away. She was gonna find her brother happiness whether he liked it or not. She walked back into her house to find Mickey sitting on the couch milking a beer. 

“He gone?” Mickey asked.

“Yup,” said making the ‘p’ make a pop sound. 

“Good,” Mickey said then let out a belch. Mandy fell down onto the couch beside her brother. 

“Hey, you feel like going to the Alibi tonight?” she asked as she chewed on her bottom lip.

“Yeah, I could go for some drinks,” he replied. Little did he know that he could be leaving with a lot more than a few drinks. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got Chapter 5 here a little early for you guys so I hope you all enjoy. I hope I can get the next Chapter started soon. Thanks again to my editor @youlovemeandyouregay on Instagram. You can Check out my Instagram @gallavich_obsessed. More Slow Burn? Yep absolutely! I wouldn't want to ruin the fun already hehe. :D

            Mickey and Mandy arrived at the Alibi at around 8:15 that night taking their usual seats at the bar. Mandy ordered a couple shots for her and Mickey and tapped her foot nervously against the bar stool. Ian would be arriving soon and she wasn’t sure how Mickey would react but she knew it wouldn’t be great. Just as she was downing her shot she saw a flash of fiery red hair enter the bar. She stood and started walking towards the door to greet her friend. “Ian, Hey. You made it.”

“Yeah,” he said hugging her.

“Come on, let’s get you a shot,” she said walking back towards the bar.

“So where is your-” Ian started but got cut short by Mandy’s outraged brother.

“No, No, Fuck NO! Not happening Mandy. I’m out!” Mickey said pointing an accusing finger at her. He then walked out of the bar.

“Um, Give me one minute,” she told Ian as she ran outside to talk to her brother before he could get too far. “Mickey! Wait up.”

“Mandy, I’m not fucking doing this shit with you again today. It just can’t happen. What do you not understand about that?” Mickey said his voice raising.

“I just thought- Maybe if you- Come on, Mick. Just give him a chance. He’s a great guy,” she said trying to reason with her stubborn big brother.

“No Mandy. I can’t, so please just leave it,” he said before he turned to head home. “Stop trying to force this on me, Mands,” he hollered out in one last attempt to get his sister to pay attention to what he was saying. Mandy huffed out a breath then went back into the bar to be with her friend.

         “Hey, Sorry about that. My brother can be a bit complicated sometimes,” she tried to explain.

“It’s ok, my family isn’t exactly perfect either. Is he ok? Do you need to go be with him?” Ian asked.

“Nah, he’ll be fine. He’s just convinced that no one in our family will ever get to be happy... I mean he’s not wrong, trouble always does seem to find us.”

“Yeah, well I’m starting to feel like happiness is just another bedtime story so,”  Ian shrugged.

 

***

           Several hours later Mickey was walking through the southside with a foggy brain, thinking over his life when he tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. He couldn’t find the energy to get up so he just laid there for what could have been either a few minutes or a few hours, he wasn’t really sure. He started grunting when he felt a few strong pokes to his side.

“Mick, come on get the hell up. Let’s go inside, it’s freezing out here,” Mandy said.

“Umph, No leave me- Get the fuu off me,” he slurred.

“No you asshole, get up! Come on,” she said raising her voice at him.

“Ahhh! Just leave me alone,” he said turning away from her. Mandy rolled her eyes and tried grabbing him again. “Mans, Just let me lay here. I don’t wanna go in there. Please.”

“I’m not gonna let you freeze to death! So get up!” she yelled again.

“Hmmm, ok. Fine, ok, let’s go then,” he whined holding a hand out for his sister to help him up with. Mandy grabbed his hand and stabilized him by putting her hand around his waist once they were standing. They went into their family home and she helped him get into his bed.

“There, you asshole, now get some sleep. You’re gonna feel like shit in the morning,” Mandy said with a smirk and an eyeroll. Mickey turned over to face the wall and passed out in under two minutes.

 

***

         Ian woke up the next morning feeling good, like today was a big day for him. So he decided to go back to work. He trudged through most of the morning following his normal routine; wake up, get ready, take meds, grab breakfast, go to work. After leaving his shitty one bedroom apartment he headed towards the L.

         Upon arriving at the station he saw Sue and Jason preparing the vehicle for any runs they may take.

“Hey guys,” Ian said to his coworkers.

“Gallagher, good to have you back,” Sue said.

“Yeah, it’s good to be back,” Ian said with a smile. And it was, he had missed work on his few days off, but it was necessary to take them off. He walked over to his locker and put his work shirt on, then walked over to sit at the table with the other EMTs while he waited until a job needed to be done.

          Unfortunately the day just continued to drag on without a single call coming in. Everyone was sitting in the break room playing cards and gossiping about the outrageous people they have had to deal with while out on calls. Ian was mindlessly eating a bag of chips when Sue did a double take at him giving him a concerned look.

“What? Do I have food on my face?” Ian asked wiping at his mouth.

“No, but what’s on your arm? Is that a rash?” she asked now waking towards him.

“Where?” Ian asked looking around his arms. Sue grabbed his right arm pushing his sleeve up to reveal the spot she was referring to.

“Here. Does it itch or burn?” she asked. Ian looked down to see a red blotchy spot covering the entirety of his inner bicep.

“No. I didn’t even notice it… Weird.” Ian said rubbing at his arm with a confused look.

“Well if it starts itching you need to make sure to get it checked out,” Sue said now walking back to her seat. Ian just rubbed his arm a few more times then pulled his sleeve back down. That was something he’d just have to worry about later.

 

***

         Mickey woke up around 2pm the next day with a pounding headache. He groaned and turned over in bed to find a glass of water and two tylenol sitting on his bedside table. Sure, sometimes Mandy could be a pain in his ass but he wouldn’t know what he’d do without her. He swallowed the pills down in one gulp then rolled out of bed. He grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

       Once he stepped out and started to get dressed, Mickey looked down at his chest to see that name staring back up at him. He huffed and threw his shirt on in a hurry before stomping out of the bathroom over to Mandy’s room. She was sitting on her bed painting her toenails. She looked up at her brother standing in the doorway. “Um can I help you?” she asked with the lift of her eyebrow. Mickey stepped into the bedroom and closed the door.

“I have to do something about this, Mands.” he said lifting his shirt up revealing his mark to his sister once again then tugging it back down.

“Well I don’t know, Mickey. What were you thinking?” Mandy asked nervously.

“I just wish I had some kind of way to cover it up. You know so I don’t have to freak out everytime I take my shirt off,” he said pacing between the bed and the wall.

“Well, I could try covering it with makeup,” she suggested.

“Would that work? Would you be able to see it at all?” Mickey asked taking a seat next to his sister on the bed.

“Well let me see… Take your shirt off,” she said motioning for him to strip it off. Mickey gave her a look then did as he was told. Mandy examined the area then went over to her makeup to look for products to match Mickey’s skin tone as well as some color correcting tones. She started applying over the area sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth as she worked. Slowly but surely the name started to blend in with his skin as if it wasn’t even there. Mickey stood up to look in the mirror.

“Holy shit, Mandy! It’s gone. You did it,” Mickey said touching his chest.

“Well yeah,” she said with a smile.

“You have to do this for me... Everyday. Please,” Mickey said looking at her.

“Sure, ok. Just come straight in here after you shower. The others never have to know,” she said with a sigh knowing that the others couldn’t know.

“Thanks, Mands,” he said. He put his shirt back on and walked out of the room planning to go to Tony’s shop for a while and work on his car. Maybe this whole soulmate thing didn’t have to be such a big deal after all.

 

***

         As the work day came to an end Ian changed into his gym clothes, which consisted of basketball shorts and a muscle tee that revealed his toned arms. He was eager to gain some momentum and energy back after the unproductive day at work. In order to warm up and stretch out his limbs, Ian decided to jog the block and a half it took to get to the gym.

         When he arrived he did a few stretches then went  straight for the weights. He started out on smaller pound weights then slowly worked his way up until he was at 50 lb weights.  He lifted one up with his left hand, then his right tossing in the occasional curl in between. He was watching his form in the mirror that took up the length of the wall, noting that his arms were really beginning to take the shape that he wanted. Then, on the upstroke of a dumbbell a sharp burning sensation ripped through Ian’s right bicep, as if he was being branded. The pain was gone quicker than it came, but the initial shock of it was enough to cause Ian to drop his weight on a nearby gym member’s foot.

“Oww, Fuck!” he cursed looking down at his arm.

“Ahhh! Holy Shit, man. My foot, Son of a bitch,” the man cursed falling to the ground clutching his foot, but Ian was too busy looking down at his arm with wide shocked eyes to be paying him any attention. Spelled out across his inner right bicep was a name. His name, _Mikhailo Milkovich._ Ian ran over to the mirror to get a better look. He rubbed at the mark afraid that if he blinked it would disappear.

       After several minutes of standing there with a dumbstruck expression, Ian finally looked over at the victim of the dumbbell incident.

“Fuck, I am so sorry man. How’s your foot?” Ian asked guiltily.

“It hurts pretty fucking bad! I think you may have broken it,” he said sitting on the ground, foot in hand. Ian sat beside him with a goofy smile now plastered on his face.

“Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to  remove your shoe,” Ian said.

“What?! Are you fucking kidding me? If you think i’m gonna put my foot into your care after dropping a fucking 50 pounder on it you must think i’m crazy,” the stranger said.

“Sir, I am an EMT, so I assure you that your foot is perfectly safe in my hands,” Ian said with a slight chuckle. He realized that he probably looked like a crazy person at this moment, but he just couldn’t see anything possibly ruining his current good mood. He was beyond giddy.

      Eventually the man let Ian help him with his injured foot. Once he got a good look at it he saw that it was only bruised up pretty bad. Ian gave him a few tips to help it out, such as icing it and keeping it elevated for the night and sent him on his way with another apology. Ian then gathered his items and practically skipped home that night. Maybe things were finally going to turn around for him.

 

***

      Mickey made it through his work day already feeling way better about his mark. He could wipe the sweat from his face with his shirt without fear of showing his chest. Even though it was just makeup and it did start to wear down throughout the day, it stuck pretty good as long as he wasn’t rubbing at it a lot.

      As the sun started to set Mickey made his way over to the old baseball field in the South Side. He climbed the chain link fence and went into the dugouts where he found his brother Iggy smoking some of the family’s good weed.

“Hey Iggs, Let me get a hit,” Mickey said holding his hand out for his older brother to pass the blunt.

“What’s new little bro?” Iggy asked.

“Ehh, nothing much man, just the same old shit. Working at Tony’s shop, dealing with Dad’s usual bullshit.

“I heard Tony got you a car?” Iggy said it like a question even though he already knew the answer.

“Yeah, So? It needs a lot of work. Gonna be forever until it’s driveable,” Mickey said like it wasn’t a big deal, even though he knew it was a huge deal.

“You always were his favorite. I can see why though, you’re one of the good ones Mick. You deserve better than all this shit,” Iggy paused and rubbed his palm into his eye. “the SouthSide, Us.”

“Hey, come on man don’t say that. You all deserve to get out too,” Mickey said looking at his brother.

“Yeah maybe you’re right… Damn this weed is getting to me,” Iggy said wiping his nose with the back of his hand, and just like that they were back to acting like nothing affected them. That always was the worst part of being in this family, you could be sad or hurt, but you had to push the emotions back even quicker than they showed themselves.

 

***

         Ian had sat in front of his bathroom mirror just staring at his mark for the past two hours and he had considered finally going to bed, but a whole new wave of excitement washed over him so he did what any normal person would do; he called his new best friend with a soulmate related emergency. The other line rang four times before it was finally answered.

“Hello? Ian?” Mandy questioned looking at the time on the digital clock on her bedside table which now read 1:25am.

“Hey Mands! So I know it’s a little late, but I was wondering if I could come over?” Ian said all in one breath.

“Umm, well that’s not really a good idea Ian. My neighborhood isn’t safe, especially at this time of night,” Mandy said now sitting up weighing her options. “Well, Maybe I could come to you?”

“Yeah, ok! That works. I’ll text you my address,” Ian said then ended the call and text the address in record time.

         20 minutes later, Mandy was knocking on his apartment door. He jumped off the couch and opened the door to let his friend inside. Mandy walked in and started scanning the place.

“Hmm, Not bad,” she commented.

“Thanks,” Ian said with a smile.

“So why am I at your house at,” Mandy paused to look at the clock on her phone screen. “1:54am.”

“Well, something exciting happened to me today. I had this rash at work and Sue said I should check it out, but I really didn’t think it was a big deal, then I was at the gym and I dropped a dumbbell on a man’s foot, and-” Ian rambled on.

“Woah Ian, Slow down,” Mandy stopped him.

“None of that matters anyways. Look!” Ian said as he yanked his shirt sleeve up revealing his mark. “I got it, Finally! Can you believe it?” Mandy just stared in shock. She knew this would happen eventually but seeing it right in front of her almost knocked her off her feet.

“Wow, that’s- Wow. That’s great Ian,” she smiled shyly and leaned forward to hug the red head.

“Thanks Mands… So what do you think he’ll be like? Mikhalio, I mean?” Ian asked. Mandy pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.

“I think it’s pronounced Михайло,” Mandy said with a slight accent. Ian gave her a confused look then looked back down to his arm.

“And you know this how?” Ian asked. Mandy chewed nervously at her lip before speaking.

“Oh, I think it’s Ukrainian,” she said. Ian’s face just showed even more confusion so she spoke up again. “I used to study the language here and there. Just a hobby, you know.”

“Ok then, if you say so,” Ian accepted this for now. The two continued chatting for a while before Mandy finally decided that she should be going. She grabbed her things, hugged her friend, and made her way out to go back to the South Side. Meanwhile, Ian finally went to bed excited to see what tomorrow would bring.

 

***

         When Mandy finally made it home she walked into Mickey’s room and nudged her brother. It was now going on 3:30 in the morning and she knew her brother wasn’t going to be happy, but this couldn’t wait until morning.

“Mickey,”

*shake*

“Mick!”

*shake, shake*

“MICKEY!” she let out a breathy whisper as she gave him one last rough shove.

“Goddamnit Mandy! What the fuck do you want? It’s 3 in the fucking morning!” Mickey said his voice groggy with sleep.

“Sorry, it just couldn’t really wait,” she said now taking a seat on his bed. Mickey huffed then sat up in his bed rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Ok, what is it? Make it quick, I have work in the morning,” Mickey said annoyed. A grumpy Mickey was never a fun Mickey.

“Ok, well- I may have- um,” Mandy stuttered.

“Mandy please, spit it the fuck out already,” Mickey said his temper rising.

“Ok, i’m sorry. I went to Ian’s tonight,” she said paying attention to her brother’s reaction.

“Ok… and you woke me up to tell me that why?” Mickey asked with the quirk of an eyebrow.

“He got his mark,” Mandy blurted out. She watched Mickey’s breath hitch in his throat.

“Um, ok. And is it- Is it?” Mickey asked knowing Mandy could fill in the blanks. She didn’t even speak, she just nodded her head. Mickey looked down at his hands in his lap, surely trying to figure out what he should do next. Instead he asked, “Does he know i’m your-”

“No,” Mandy cut him short. “He doesn’t have any idea who you are Mick. Apparently even fate has an understanding of how things are. It says Mikhailo,” Mandy told her brother.

“Good, Keep it that way. He can’t know who I am,” Mickey said giving her a stern look.

“But Mick-”

“No Mandy! I mean it,” he said.

“Fine,” Mandy said crossing her arms across her chest. “I’m going to bed.” and she was gone, back to her room. Mickey sat there for a while longer thinking about the red haired EMT that lived on the North Side, and if he would ever take the risk and tempt fate in order to meet him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really eager to write and post this chapter so here it is early. Me and @youlovemeandyouregay have been so excited about it! I hope you guys enjoy it. :D

A week after getting his mark, Ian was sitting at home doing whatever research he could find on this Mikhailo Milkovich. He had already searched Google and the Chicago phone books, so now he was sitting on his couch in his underwear and a t-shirt doing some Facebook stalking. So far he had no such luck, although he did find someone by the name of Iggy Milkovich who apparently really liked heavy metal bands and anything that had to do with the name Playboy. Ian scrolled through this guy’s photos, but other than the occasional selfie all he had was a couple pictures of a different guy covering his face while flipping off the camera. Ian just swiped past those and eventually gave up looking at this guy’s profile all together and got up to take a shower. 

A while later after he had gotten himself dressed and ready, he considered calling Mandy to see if she wanted to hang, but figured he had already bothered her enough this week about his soulmate. She had to be tired of hearing it by now. So he did the next best thing and called Lip. The phone barely had a chance to ring before his brother was answering. “Hey man, what’s up?”

“Hey Lip, you busy today?” Ian asked.

“No not really. Fiona wants me to take Liam to his friends house later, but other than that I don’t have any plans. Why? What did you have in mind?” Lip asked. Ian still hadn’t mentioned anything to his family and especially Lip about getting his mark yet since his brother had such a negative reaction to getting his own. 

“Well I thought maybe we could have lunch. Talk about a few things?” Ian suggested. 

“Yeah ok, I could be down for that. Where you wanna go?” he asked. 

“Ok, Let’s just go get burgers or something,” Ian said.

“Alright man. I’ll see you at the place,” Lip said before hanging up.

Within the next hour they were both at the burger place ordering their food and taking a set in one of the booths. “So what is it that you were wanting to talk about?” Lip asked.

“Well, something kind of big happened to me,” Ian said and Lip gave him a side glane waiting to be told more. Ian didn’t say anything else just rolled his shirt sleeve up to reveal the name tattooed there. Lip went wide eyed.

“Wow man, Holy shit. That’s pretty exciting right? So… did you meet him yet?” Lip asked knowing his brother must be ecstatic about this.

“No, not yet. Hopefully soon though right?” Ian asked hoping he had some kind of answers.

“I don’t know man. I mean you know how I felt about mine, but she hasn’t exactly come walking into my life anytime recently, so it’s kind of hard to tell how this is supposed to work,” Lip said wishing he had more information. 

“Well Shit. I tried looking him up, but it doesn’t seem like someone named Mikhailo is from around these parts. Hell, I barely found a Milkovich,” Ian said doubtful.

“What the fuck kind of name is that anyways?” Lip asked.

“Apparently it’s Ukrainian,” Ian said remembering what Mandy had told him. 

“Ok, well what the fuck are you supposed to do with that?” he asked with his brows furrowed.

“Honestly? I have no idea,” Ian said with a sigh. They finished up their lunch trying to come up with ideas on how to find Ian’s mystery man. 

 

***

For the past week Mickey had been running on little to no sleep due to a certain ginger fuck making unwelcome visits in his dreams. And to make matters even worse he hadn’t even gotten a good look at the guy, so all Mickey would see was flashes of the flaming locks and strong shoulders. He felt as if he was slowly going insane. He didn’t want any of this, but of course Mickey didn’t get a choice in the matter. The guy was beginning to consume his every thought and he just wanted a way out of this sick game fate was playing with him. Now Mickey was sitting at the dining room table with Mandy just trying not to let his head fall into his plate of food. “Mick!” Mandy yelled. Mickey jerked up so quick he almost fell out of his chair. 

“Jesus Mandy, what the fuck?” Mickey cursed annoyed.

“I called your name like 4 times. What is up with you?” she asked concerned for her brother.

“Just tired. I haven’t really been sleeping lately,” he admitted. 

“Why not? You got something going on?” she asked. Mickey looked around the room to make sure no one else was around.

“I keep having dreams about this Gallagher asshole. I just wish he would go away Mands,” he huffed.

“Well you know… maybe if you would let me introduce you-”

“Mandy please we’ve-” Mickey started interrupting his sister, but she just talked back over him.

“Maybe if you’d let me introduce you then you could get past this and get some fucking sleep,” she finished. Mickey huffed again standing to deposit his uneaten sandwich in the trash. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and turned to look back at his sister who was just staring at him with her head tilted to the side. “Just think about it, Mick.”

Mickey spent the rest of the day nodding in and out of sleep while also thinking over what his sister had to say. On the one hand maybe it would just be easier to let Mandy introduce them and get it over with, but on the other hand he didn’t want to have to be the bearer of bad news and tell his soulmate that they couldn’t be together. God, why out of all the people in this fucked up family did he have to be the one to get his mark. The universe really did have a sick sense of humor. 

 

***

The next day was a Sunday, so Fiona wanted to get everyone together for a family meeting to discuss plans for her upcoming wedding. Everyone met up for a big Gallagher clan brunch and sat at the family dining table. Ian had made plans to tell them all about his mark and what he knew so far, which wasn’t much, but that would have to wait until after Fiona talked about the thing they were all here for. “Ok, so I know we still have a while before the big day, but the sooner we start making plans the better with our family if we want things to be organized,” Fiona started and everyone nodded along. “Alright, so we are gonna have the wedding in the spring, which means we have 6 months to plan. Ian, Carl, you guys are gonna be Aaron’s groomsman. Debs, you will be my bridesmaid along with V who will be my maid of honor. Liam will be the ring bearer, and Lip, how would you like to walk me down the aisle?” she finished. 

They continued talking about wedding stuff for the next hour, trying to get a rough idea on what would happen on the big day. Once they were done Ian finally spoke up before they started clearing out. “Hey can I talk to you guys about something?”

“Yeah Ian, of course. What’s up? Everything ok?” Fiona asked.

“Oh yeah, nothing bad. I uh… I got my mark,” he said looking around at his family’s reactions, beside Lip who of course already knew.

“Oh wow, Ian! That’s great congrats. I know you have been waiting your whole life for this,” she said smiling. 

“Yeah, thanks. I’m really excited. I haven’t met him yet, but hopefully soon right?” Ian asked his sister.

“Yeah they usually say about a month. Right babe?” she asked turning to her fiance. 

“Oh yeah. That’s what i’ve heard,” Aaron spoke up.

“Ok, cool,” Ian smiled.

“So, what’s his name?” Debbie asked.

“Mikhailo… Milkovich,” Ian said pulling his sleeve up for his family to see. They ooed and ahhed at Ian’s arm except Carl who had a confused look on his face.

“Hey what’s up Carl?” Lip asked his little brother.

“Milkovich… Milkovich? That sounds familiar. I swear i’ve heard that somewhere before,” Carl said scratching his head. 

“Really?! Where?” Ian jumped towards his brother.

“Not sure, but i’ve definitely heard it before. The first name not so much, but Milkovich I have,” Carl said.

“Hmm, Ok well Carl if you figure it out please let me know, Yeah?” Ian asked.

“Yeah for sure,” He said with a smile.

Ian went home and decided to call Mandy. Maybe she could help him find out some more information about the Milkovich family. 

 

***

Mandy was sitting on the couch playing a video game when her phone started ringing displaying Ian’s name on the screen. She paused the game to answer. “Hey Ian, what’s up?” she asked. 

“Hey Mandy. You busy?” he asked sounding as if he didn’t want to bother her. 

“No not at all. What do you need?”

“Well I was kind of hoping you could help me do some research on something,” he said eagerly. 

“Sure, what is it?” she asked taking a sip of her beer.

“I need you to find out about the Milkovich's,” he said and Mandy sprayed her beer all over the living room, which caused her to start choking.

“Shit Mandy! You ok?” he asked concerned for his friend. Just at that moment Mickey ran into the living room surely from hearing her coughing fit.

“Yeah, all good,” she said coming back to herself again. Mickey gave her a questioning look. She gave a nervous one of her own back signaling her brother to have a seat. “What is it that you want to know about the Milkovich’s, Ian?” she asked causing Mickey’s eyes to grow wide. 

“Well, for starters I want to know who they are. You know since they will eventually be my family and all,” Ian answered.

“Ok… Um don’t you think that’s kind of an invasion of privacy though?” she asked.

“I don’t care Mandy. I need to know! It is killing me over here. I’ve been waiting my whole life to get this mark, and now that I have it I just need to know him Mands. Please,” he begged. 

“Ok Ian, I’ll try but I can’t promise you anything,” she said.

“Thank you Mandy!” Ian said excitedly. 

“You’re welcome Gallagher,” she said rolling her eyes.

“Hey Mands?”

“Yeah Ian?” she questioned.

“What’s your family’s name? You knew mine pretty quickly, but now that I think about it I still don’t know yours,” Ian asked, because they hadn’t talked about it. He just realized and it was odd to just never have asked.

“Um, is that really necessary?” she asked getting nervous again.

“Well yeah… come on Mandy, you know mine. What’s the big deal?” he said now confused.

“Uhhh… ok, well it’s Mil-”

“Lie!” Mickey said louder than he meant to.

“What?” Ian said in the phone not understanding what she said. 

“Millar… It’s Millar,” Mandy said looking at Mickey.

“Ok then Mandy Millar. Nice to officially meet you,” Ian giggled. “I’ll talk to you later Mands,” with that the line went dead and Mandy took a deep breath out. 

“Holy shit!” she said rubbing her head.

“Yeah, that was fucking close. I’m going back to bed,” Mickey said getting up and heading back to his room. This redhead was going to kill him. 

 

***

Ian had to be at work first thing in the morning. He took the early morning train and arrived at the station just in time to help Sue prep the van for the day. 

“So Gallagher, how is your man hunt coming?” she asked. Ian had told Sue the next day after receiving his mark. She was probably the next closest person to him after Lip and now Mandy. 

“Ehh it’s… going. I guess,” he said.

“What not much luck yet?” she asked.

“Well it’s almost like a Mikhailo Milkovich doesn’t exist in Chicago,” Ian said.

“Maybe he’s not in Chicago right now. He could be from somewhere else right. You did say your friend Mandy said it was a Ukrainian name right? Maybe he’s coming into Chicago,” she suggested.

“Yeah I guess you’re right,” Ian smiled. Just then they got a call out to deal with a car accident over in Downtown Chicago. They loaded up and headed out. 

When they arrived on scene they saw it was only minor. A woman had drove through a stop sign and T-boned the car crossing the intersection. They got a few cuts and bruises but they would be just fine to leave the scene after their reports were filled out. Ian wrote a few things in his run report while Sue finished up on bandaging up the last person, then they were headed back to the station. 

***

Mickey got up after what was finally a decent night’s rest and headed to work at Tony’s shop. Working for his older brother had been possibly one of the best things that had happened for Mickey. He had first gotten the job offer a month after Tony bought the place to try to be legit, or semi-legit anyways because let’s face it they still sold quite a few stolen cars. Tony needed people working for him and who better to ask than his younger brothers, but none of them were ever interested in the hard work, except Mickey. The Milkovich boys were pretty well known for their drug runs. Terry Milkovich had been in the business for as long as Mickey could remember and he’d been taking his sons on runs with him since each one was old enough to count money. Mickey never did enjoy the business, but he never really had a choice in the matter. He was the best at counting and adding up money and his family needed him, so he just did as he was told and didn’t ask questions. Tony being the oldest Milkovich brother not only felt a need to protect his youngest brother, but he had the most time to get a lot of their mother’s good qualities. So when he opened up shop he took his brother in. Mickey now only had to do the occasional run and was pretty much free of the family business, which he was glad for. 

Walking into the shop had been bittersweet for the past week. On one hand Mickey loved working on his car, but on the other hand it gave him a lot of time to just sit and think. He might have been able to finally get some sleep, but if anything Ian Gallagher was on his mind even more. Today was the worst it had been. He was doing the necessary work on his car, but kept getting distracted. He’d stop what he was doing and think images of that brilliant red hair. He always thought of his hair.  _ God I just want to put my fingers in it. _ Just as that thought crossed Mickey’s mind he quickly shook out of it.  _ What the hell is going on with me? I’m losing it.  _ Mickey thought walking through the shop. He was so distracted that he didn’t even see the oil spilled on the ground in front of his car. Mickey stepped into the mess and  _ Crash!  _ He was down. Tony rushed over to find his brother laying on the floor unconscious. 

“Holy Shit! Mickey? Yo Mick. Come on man get up!” Tony said patting his brother’s face lightly with no response. “Fuck!”

He panicked pulling out his phone and dialing 911. “Yes! Hello. I need assistance! My brother, he’s passed out on the floor, he seems to have slipped on some oil!”

“Yes ok sir what is your location?”

 

***

Ian and Sue were on the way back to the station from the earlier accident when a new call came in. “Protocol  17-D-2 , Man appears Unconscious. Tony’s Auto Mechanics Shop, 648 W 43rd Street, Canaryville. Patient slipped on oil spilled on the ground and possibly hit his head.” They gathered what they needed and hopped in the van while the dispatcher finished reading off the information they needed. 

“Southside?” Sue asked. 

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I know what shop this is actually,” Ian said. He remembers passing an auto mechanic shop every time he came into the southside to go to Fiona’s. 

They arrived to the location in a little over 12 minutes and immediately grabbed their supplies and went inside. 

“Where is he?” Sue asked the owner right away.

“Over here. He is just starting to come to,” he said.

“Here Ian, can you grab him? I’m gonna talk to the owner. Get a feel for what happened,” Sue told him. 

“Yeah sure,” Ian said. He walked over to find a very confused man clutching his head.

“The fuck? Where am I? What happened?” he said looking up at Ian for the first time. And holy fuck if those weren’t the most gorgeous blue eyes Ian had ever seen.  _ Not the time, Ian. _

“You had a fall, I am here to help. Can you tell me your name?” Ian asked.

“Mickey,” he said. “My name is Mickey.” 

_ Yes it is!  _ Ian cleared his throat. “Ok Mickey, I’m just gonna examine you to make sure everything is ok.” Ian began doing his check as protocol called for, but halfway through his gaze fell on the gorgeous man in front of him. When he realized he was sitting there just staring and smiling like an idiot he tried to snap out of it, but he couldn’t help himself. 

Mickey was sitting on the floor of Tony’s shop trying to remember what exactly happened to him when it finally dawned on him that he was now being poked at by someone. He slowly looked up and when he realized who it was he full on started freaking the fuck out. He stood up and quickly put distance in between himself and the man who’s name was written across Mickey’s own chest. He was wide eyed and couldn’t form words.

“Hey, you ok?” Ian asked. Mickey stayed unresponsive just blinking back at the man. “You feeling alright? Do you need me to get you something? Water?”

“Uhh, I-” Mickey stopped speaking and swallowed the lump in his throat nodding his head. Ian walked away to go grab the liquid for Mickey. Now that he knew fully what Ian Gallagher looked like he couldn’t say that it was going to help him out at all. The man was fucking beautiful, some Adonis mother fucker. Mickey gripped his head again trying to will his headache away. Just then Mandy decided to show up.

“Mickey, oh my god are you ok?” she asked hugging her brother.

“Uh, yeah,” he said still at a loss for words.

“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?” she asked confused.

“It’s him,” Mickey said looking in the direction Ian went.

“Who Mick?” she asked with furrowed brows. At that moment Ian returned with Mickey’s water.

“Here you go Mickey-” Ian looked confused for a moment upon seeing Mandy. “Mandy? What are you doing here?” Mandy’s eyes went wide now realizing what her brother was talking about.

“I’m Mickey’s sister,” she said to her friend.

“Holy shit really?” Ian asked.

“Yup,” she said making her ‘p’ pop. That’s when Sue came back over.

“Hey, so you apparently slipped on the oil and hit your head on the ground. We may need to take you back and get a CT scan to check for a concussion.”

“No!” Mickey shouted a little louder than expected. “I’m not going to the fucking hospital. Not happening.”

“But sir, it could be serious,” Sue said.

“No I won’t go,” Mickey said.

“Come on, Mick. Don’t be so difficult,” Mandy said.

“Um if I may,” Ian said interrupting. He looked down at his watch to check the time. “My shift is almost over. Why I don’t I just stay here with you guys and Sue you can head back?”

“Yeah, sure. If it’s not a problem,” Mandy said smiling. 

“Will you be good, Sue?” Ian asked.

“Oh yeah. You can just fill in your report on his status tomorrow,” Sue said. “I’ll let Rita know.”

Mickey pulled Mandy aside while Ian went to the van to grab his things. “Mandy what the fuck are you doing?” Mickey asked.

“Come on, Mick. It’s his job, and it was either this or the hospital,” Mandy said. Mickey huffed and rolled his eyes. This was just perfect. First he hits his head because of this guy and now he’s being forced to hang out with him for the next few hours. 

 

***

After Sue left Ian, Mickey, and Mandy all got what they needed and headed out towards the L. Tony told Mickey to take the rest of the day off due to the accident, so Mandy suggested the three of them go get an early dinner. Ian agreed and Mickey just rolled his eyes and walked ahead of his sister and Ian on his own. Ian kept glancing up at him trying to figure the guy out. He already knew Mandy pretty well, but Mickey was different from anyone he’d ever met and Ian wanted to get to know the guy. Ian finally decided to speak up to his best friend. “Hey Mands?”

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Your brother? What’s his deal?” Ian asked.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I don’t know he just seems kind of… tense?” he hesitated. 

“Mickey has a hard time getting to know new people. We kind of had it rough growing up, so it’s not exactly easy trusting people,” she tried explaining. “Let’s just say he’s more of a fighter than a talker.” Ian just nodded. He knew some families on the southside weren’t as lucky as him and his siblings had been. Maybe having no parents was better than having abusive ones.

Once on the L Mickey sat across from Ian and Mandy. He pretty much stayed in his head the majority of the time, wondering what the hell he was gonna do now that he met the redhead, and if it was possible to jump off the moving train right now. He tried his best to avoid conversation at all cost but apparently someone was the talkative type. 

“So Mickey… You work at the shop, you must like cars right?” Ian said. Mickey glanced at Mandy who had a shit eating grin on her face.  _ Is this guy fucking serious right now? _

“Uh, yeah.” he said.

“Cool. What’s your favorite kind?” Ian asked.

“Seriously?” Mickey said with the raise of his brow. He didn’t answer just rolled his eyes and turned to face the window. He was not about to sit here and make fucking small talk with this guy.

They got off the train once they arrived downtown. They had decided to take Ian’s suggestion and go grab a pizza. Once again Mickey started walking in front of the others. He just wanted to get this day over with as soon as possible. Meanwhile Ian couldn’t help but think something about this tough guys swagger was insanely hot. Mickey was so focused on keeping his head on straight that he completely passed their destination up.

“Yo Mick! It’s here,” Mandy hollered up to him. He turned back to see Ian holding the door to the restaurant open. Mandy walked in first while Ian continued holding the door for Mickey to enter behind her. When Mickey walked in his arm brushed against Ian’s chest and he immediately went wide eyed feeling his skin prickle up with goosebumps. He saw Ian pull his bottom lip into his mouth out of the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath and released it before he walked into the pizza place. 

Ian could feel his face grow warm after the encounter. He didn’t know what it was about this guy but he definitely wanted more. Then he also walked into the restaurant. The rest of the day ought to be interesting.  


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok everyone Chapter 7 is finally here. I am so sorry it took this long to get out, I have just been crazy busy with everything going on lately. I Hope you all enjoy it anyways. As for ch 8 I will try my hardest to get it out way sooner. Thanks again to @youlovemeandyouregay on Instagram for helping me out with everything and continuing to keep me motivated. You all can always check me out on Instagram as well @gallavich_obsessed where I am always active, so feel free to message me. :) enjoy!

         Shortly after finding their seats and deciding on toppings for the pizza that they could all agree on Ian, Mickey, and Mandy were sitting in the little red booth that was an unreasonably tight fit. Mandy tried to force her brother onto the same side as Ian, but eventually gave in once he elbowed his sister in the rib just hard enough to get her to scoot over and let him in on her side. It didn’t seem to make a difference though as Ian was across from Mickey, but due to the tightness of the booth and Ian’s giraffe legs, they were practically playing footsies under the table anyway. Everytime Mickey would pull his legs in that was when Ian would decide he needed to stretch his out. _This guy is impossible with his perfect hair and jawline that could cut glass._ Mickey rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms and flopped back against the booth with a huff. Mandy and Ian both looked up at him mid conversation, Ian with a confused look and Mandy looking away trying not to bust out laughing at  her brother. “...anyways,” Ian started again finally looking away from Mickey’s frustrated state. “I was in ROTC for 3 years. Wanted to be an army officer, but I fucked that up.” 

“Wait, don’t officers get shot first?” Mickey spoke up. 

“Uh yeah I guess, but I wanted to be someone important. Ya know, do something with my life and get out of the southside,” Ian said looking down.

“So how’d you end up saving no good southside thugs like me then, Firecrotch?” Mickey asked with his brow arched. Ian blushed at the nickname.

“Well… I made it to basic, but I kind of did something stupid,” Ian said with a cringe. “Let’s just say I can never join any branch of the military again.”

“Fuck,” Mickey cursed. “That sucks, man.” Ian shrugged his shoulders. Just then their pizza made its way to their table and they immediately started digging in quiet throughout the rest of the meal.  

 

***

        After leaving the restaurant, they all headed back towards the L. While on the platform waiting for the train to pull up Ian and Mickey stood side by side while Mandy went over to sit on a nearby bench. Mickey stood with his arms crossed while he impatiently shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Meanwhile, Ian was beside him with a straight posture while his hands were tapping out a rhythm on his thighs. Every now and then they would make eye contact while glancing over at each other, then they would quickly look away. Ian nervously licked his lips trying to decide whether he should speak or not. He opened and closed his mouth several times before finally saying, “So, um Mick…” Mickey gave him an annoyed look at the use of the nickname. No one calls him Mick, well except Mandy, but he let it go. “I’m gonna have to examine you one last time in a day or so. Will you be free? It’s routine,” Ian asked although he could clearly see that Mickey was fine and it wasn’t even routine, but he wanted to see this guy again, and he had a feeling that if he asked him out he would get a punch in the gut rather than a yes. So, oh well if he said a tiny lie in order to make it happen. Mickey rolled his eyes but told Ian he could come over tomorrow afternoon. Ian tried his best not to let his grin show. The L then pulled up in front of them and they all boarded the train and made their way to each destination. They rode in comfortable silence until they came to a stop. They got off the pink line at Central Park Station. Ian and Mandy exchanged hugs before they parted ways saying goodbye. Overall it had been a pretty successful day for Ian, and he had a smile on his face the whole way home. 

 

***

       On the walk back to their house from the L Mandy kept looking at Mickey as if she was waiting for him to start talking. She finally rolled her eyes and made a couple throat clearing noises. Mickey looked over at her eyebrows raised. “What?” he asked. 

“Are we just not going to talk about what happened today?” she asked staring at him wide eyed.

“Nothing to talk about,” he replied stubbornly.

“Oh puh-lease, Mickey. Come the fuck on!” she said.

Mickey huffed nostrils flared before speaking again. “Ok fine. Maybe I just don’t want to talk about it ok. Can you just let it go?” But of course it was not going to be that easy. Mandy was quiet for all of 3 seconds before she started again.

“But Mickey-,” she whined. “I mean you’ve got to give me something here. Come on. Tell me.” Mickey could’ve swore he actually felt his eye twitch. Mandy hadn’t been this annoying since they were kids and she wanted a bite of Mickey’s snicker bar. He could always avoid giving in as long as he didn’t-

Mickey then turned his head looking at Mandy’s biggest puppy dog eyes. It wasn’t nearly as cute as it used to be when she was younger, but still very effective. Mickey blew out hot air, then started to speak giving in to his baby sister. “Jesus Fuck, Mandy. What do you want me to say here? That I like him? That something about him got to me, making me want more? Well guess what? News Flash! Nothing can happen! Don’t you get it? It’s not going to do anything but cause issues and ruin both of us in the end.” At that moment they arrived at their childhood home. Mickey ran up the front steps and went inside slamming the door. He walked through the living room avoiding his brother’s questionable glances and slammed his bedroom door as well. He paced for a moment or two before knocking everything off his dresser and punching a wall. He then plopped down on his bed rubbing his eyes before deciding to light up a cigarette. He let the smoke fill his lungs and blew out slowly. This entire situation was just one big disaster. 

 

***

 

         Once Ian got home he set his keys on the kitchen counter. He then proceeded to strip off his work uniform and walk towards his bathroom. Once there, he dropped his boxers and turned the water on in the shower letting it run for a minute so it could warm up. He looked at himself in the mirror, noticing the small smile still present on his face. Thinking about it now, he had kept the image of those piercing eyes in his head the entire way back to his apartment. Ian stepped into the shower which was now scorching hot. He adjusted the temperature then put his head under the water rubbing his hands through his hair. He continued to shower as normal, but when he went to wash his body he noticed an uninvited guest joining the party.  _ Jesus I just met this guy and already I’m getting a hard on thinking about him.  _ Ian rolled his eyes and reluctantly turned the water as cold as he could stand it. 

         He finished up his shower successfully keeping his hands off his junk and wrapped his bottom half in a clean towel, leaving his torso exposed, beads of water dripping down his chest. In that moment his phone starting ringing from the edge of the bathroom sink. He picked up seeing that Mandy was requesting a FaceTime call. Ian looked around trying to find something to throw on, but seeing as he took all his clothes off as soon as he walked into his apartment, they were all still on the living room floor. Knowing it was only Mandy, Ian went ahead and answered the call. 

“Hey Mands,” Ian said looking at her through the screen. 

“Hey Ia- Holy Fuck!” Mandy yelled out.

“What is it?” Ian asked looking around.

“Nothing, just Jesus give a girl some kind of warning next time before you decide to give me a lady boner,” she said looking at her hot best friend.

“Sorry. I just got out of the shower and didn’t have time to throw a shirt on,” Ian said. Then on the other side of the line Mickey walked into the Milkovich living room to ask,

“Who the fuck are you talking to?” 

“It’s Ian, shithead. Don’t worry about it.”

“Hey Mickey,” Ian said waving. Mickey went wide eyed seeing the wet shirtless man on Mandy’s phone. He swallowed hard before speaking again. 

“Go put some fucking clothes on, Jesus we don’t want to see all that.”

“I do,” Mandy said with a grin.

“Sorry, I probably should though. Give me a few Mands and I will call you back,” Ian said gripping his towel harder. They then hung up the call.

         Once Ian’s face and other parts were off her phone screen Mandy turned to her brother who was giving her a death glare. Mandy slid her tongue over her top teeth trying to keep from laughing. “Like what you saw?” she asked.

“Fuck off,” Mickey said before rolling his eyes walking back to his bedroom. Mandy then burst out into laughter.

          Ian was scrambling to get his clothes on, but couldn’t quite concentrate.  _ Mickey saw me basically naked and kind of freaked out. Didn’t he? Or was that just because he didn't want his baby sister seeing him like that? Protective big brother mode. Right? Is Mickey gay? _ Ian sat down on his bed with one leg in his boxers, mind racing.  _ What was happening to him? _ Then Ian thought of something very important. He hadn’t thought about his soulmate all day. At least not since he met Mickey. How could he have completely forgotten about the person who is supposed to be the love of his life? Oh he was fucked. 


End file.
